Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

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Bradlee Dean’s “Influences”

In a New York Times article about the relationship between Michele Bachmann and Bradlee Dean, the evangelist/rap metal drummer who thinks the Muslims are even more moral than Christians because they execute gay people, one finds this curious statement:

His influences now can be found on the walls of his ministry’s headquarters here, about 55 miles outside Minneapolis, housed in part of what once was a firehouse. Mr. Dean, who, at 6 foot 5, has the imposing presence of a burly football player and is fond of wearing black tracksuits, gave a tour last month of the images that inspire him — figures like John Adams, the British preacher Charles Spurgeon, the American evangelist Dwight L. Moody, Martin Luther, the Salvation Army founder William Booth and Martin Luther King Jr. A copy of the Declaration of Independence is on a wall, and a large photo of a bald eagle.

Really? John Adams is a big influence on him? Somehow I doubt that. The David Barton version of John Adams, perhaps, but not the real John Adams. The real John Adams rejected the trinity, finding it absolutely laughable and irrational. And he was a universalist, believing that all religions are different paths to God. And he wrote emphatically that the Constitution of the United States was a document based on reason alone, not on any kind of divine revelation.

And the Declaration of Independence was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, who believed those same things. He argued not only that Jesus was not divine but that he had never claimed to be divine. He called the gospel writers “dupes and impostors” and Paul the great corrupter of Jesus’ purely human message. And he called the Old Testament conception of God “cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust.”

If Bradlee Dean were in confronted by someone today who believed the things that Jefferson and Adams did, he would undoubtedly condemn them as pagans, heathens, heretics or infidels and accuse them of hating God and hating Jesus. But since they were founding fathers, he pretends they’re on his side so he can claim the support of long-dead men who were far smarter than he is.

And Martin Luther was one of the most savagely anti-Semitic men in history, writing a book called On the Jews and Their Lies that was practically a roadmap for Hitler’s final solution. Here’s a sample of that book:

What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we can not tolerate them if we do not wish to share in their lies, curses, and blasphemy. In this way we cannot quench the inextinguishable fire of divine rage nor convert the Jews. We must prayerfully and reverentially practice a merciful severity. Perhaps we may save a few from the fire and flames [of hell]. We must not seek vengeance. They are surely being punished a thousand times more than we might wish them. Let me give you my honest advice.
First, their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and of Christianity in order that God may see that we are Christians, and that we have not wittingly tolerated or approved of such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of His Son and His Christians.

Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. For they perpetrate the same things there that they do in their synagogues. For this reason they ought to be put under one roof or in a stable, like gypsies, in order that they may realize that they are not masters in our land, as they boast, but miserable captives, as they complain of incessantly before God with bitter wailing.

Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught.

Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more…

Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews. For they have no business in the rural districts since they are not nobles, nor officials, nor merchants, nor the like. Let them stay at home…If you princes and nobles do not close the road legally to such exploiters, then some troop ought to ride against them, for they will learn from this pamphlet what the Jews are and how to handle them and that they ought not to be protected. You ought not, you cannot protect them, unless in the eyes of God you want to share all their abomination…

To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden – the Jews…

Comments

I seriously doubt that Braddy-kins knows anything about Martin Luther beyond the fact that he started Protestantism, and that unfortunately named Worms thing. He’s never read anything the guy actually wrote.

Same thing with John Adams. All he knows about him is that everybody’s been talking about him lately because of a book.

And I cite as my biggest influence, one Adolf Hitler. No, not that Adolf, but the one in my mind. You see, the Adolf Hitler in my mind actually loved the Jews, fought tirelessly for human rights, and battled his evil nemesis twin on a vast number of alternate dimensional Earths. Nowadays, he lives on the moon raising bees and in his free time he’s the lead singer in a power metal band that sounds like a cross between Dio, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest.

Luther also did an interesting about face during the peasant’s/farmer’s war (c. 1525-6). Initially in support of the merchants’, farmers’ and peasants’ grievances seeking better economic accommodation, he ultimately stuck with the Pauline doctrine of submission to the absolute authority of the Princes, writing:

Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel … For baptism does not make men free in body and property, but in soul; and the gospel does not make goods common, except in the case of those who, of their own free will, do what the apostles and disciples did in Acts 4 [:32–37]. They did not demand, as do our insane peasants in their raging, that the goods of others—of Pilate and Herod—should be common, but only their own goods. Our peasants, however, want to make the goods of other men common, and keep their own for themselves. Fine Christians they are! I think there is not a devil left in hell; they have all gone into the peasants. Their raving has gone beyond all measure.

– Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants

It’s estimated that 100,000-300,000 rebels, most being Christians, were killed. But order was maintained.